China Launches Shenzhou 9 Space Mission with Three Astronauts 🚀

With a thunderous roar, China announces its presence as a key player in the space race.<br/> <br />This Shenzhou 9 rocket carrying three astronauts blasted off Saturday afternoon, bound for an experimental Chinese space station.<br/> <br />If all goes to plan, the ship will dock at the station - a complicated maneauver that would be a landmark achievement for China's nascent space program.<br/> <br />And these are the people who will make it happen.<br/> <br />The ship's crew of three, including China's first female astonaut, were given a rousing sendoff a few hours before launch.<br/> <br />The mission is part of a larger, more ambitious effort, say Chinese officials.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHIEF DESIGNER OF CHINA'S MANNED SPACE ENGINEERING PROJECT, ZHOU JIANPING SAYING:<br/> <br />"Our country's current planned timetable is to build a manned space station by around 2020. I believe that we can achieve this goal, because we already have the basic technological capability."<br/> <br />Beijing is still far behind the established space superpowers, the United States and Russia.<br/> <br />But Saturday's launch is an indication the country is fast catching up, say observers.<br/> <br />Andrew Raven, Reuters